Beautiful Body In Ancient Greek Art

What is a beautiful body? This issue of body-image issues and the magic measurements that define the perfect physique have been going on for centuries. As years past and times change it is only normal for ones perception of beauty to change. With the advancement of technology and increase interest in social media may have accelerated the pace of change, but is does not change the substance of the question: what is a beautiful body? The primary focus of Ancient Greek art was that of the human body. Almost all of these sculptures are of nude men. A very common subject was the idealized male body. To Greeks one of the most favorable subject was that of the athlete, as it represented the ideal form. Throughout centuries the idea of beauty was …show more content…
The Classical period began after the defeat of the Persians in the early fifth century B.C. The Classical period is the most well known phase of Greek sculptures. During this era the Greeks achieved their highest level of work and really explored the form and perspectives in art. The Greeks took art to whole new level that no one ever deemed possible. The most notable accomplishments that occurred in the Classical period was the perfection of the human form in sculpture. The most favorable was that of the athlete as it was easy to showcase the musculature of the human form. In this period Greek artist Polykleitos created a system of proportions which would change the form of art forever. With the use of these carful measurements artists were now able to covey a vitality of life, a sense of permanence, clarity, as well as harmony. Greek artists also introduced the Contrapposto pose, a stance in which the weight of a statue rests on one leg. The significance of this famous trademark pose was that it brought about a sense of naturalize. One of Polykleitos most important sculptural works was the statue Doryphoros also known as the “Spear-carrier”. This bronze sculpture depicts a youth male nude standing in Contrapposto. Besides from the Contrapposto pose the Spear - Carrier also reveled another change in Ancient Greek Art, which was that the sculptures were of normal people such as charioteers or discus - bearers and not just of the religious or the divine. As a result sculptures were softer in positions, stance and more natural situations. Another change came about in greek art when they started to carve, paint and mold real, actual humans. An example would be the statues of Harmodius and Aristogeition. These pieces of work brought about even more transformation in the art world as it shift from the perfect ideal to the wonder of flaws. The flaws became essential